Another petition about Hastings bridge begins to circulate

Human rights will be 'violated' without temporary bridge, resident says

Hastings Swing Bridge

HASTINGS - The owner of a guest house says the right of people to a barrier-free environment will be violated if a temporary bridge and a fully accessible walkway aren't in place when work begins on the swing bridge later this year.

Skye Morrison began collecting signatures last Friday for the petition she's launched to spur government action. Parks Canada has said it can't afford to put a temporary bridge in. There will be a walkway but with steps at each end.

Ms. Morrison said residents and businesses in and around the village will face "great challenges" while the bridge is being repaired. The work, scheduled to begin in October, is expected to last 16 weeks.

"A much larger constituency from Peterborough to Cobourg is part of this human rights challenge," Ms. Morrison said in a statement sent to local news media. "Everyone from Aboriginal education workers commuting between Peterborough to Alderville, or employees at year-round resorts, to families who have children requiring transportation across the bridge for their education, to workers in all sectors who use Hwy. 45 to get to and from work," she said. "Families, friends and business associates of these people are also affected."

"I hope I can embarrass them into at least making the walkway barrier-free," Ms. Morrison said in an interview. At 60 years of age she's not going to risk breaking a leg crossing the walkway in the winter, she said.

She said one family on the south side of the river whose parents work in Peterborough and whose sons play hockey there estimate "it's going to cost them $6,000 in gas for those four months" because of the extra distance they will have to travel by way of a detour.

Calling the imminent closure of the bridge a "predictable emergency," Ms. Morrison said those responsible for the project are not getting the message, that more needs to be done to ensure the human rights of local residents are upheld.

More than 1,000 people in Hastings and Norwood have signed a petition begun by another local resident, Tonya McColl-Smith, urging Northumberland-Quinte West MP Rick Norlock to keep the interests of Hastings a top priority.

"We're not asking for a temporary bridge," she said in an interview.

She plans to continue collecting more names in the weeks ahead by circulating her petition in a wider area.